Back from the beach...

Oh what a wonderful week away!

It all began when Karen flew in on Friday for vacation. I picked her up and promptly drove her to my house where I proceeded to take a nap as I had been up VERY late the night before. Once I awoke, somewhat refreshed, I dragged Karen to my dress fitting. It was so strange to try on my dress again since I hadn't seen it since I bought it months ago. After manicures, pedicures, salsa and chips and dinner out we went back to await the Neyers arrival. We packed most of the car on Friday and finished up Saturday morning. We were on our way to the beach by 10am.

I wish I could say this was all of the beer and drinks we brought but sadly, this picture was without three cases of beer and of course, we bought more midway through the week!!

After navigating our way from Durham to Oak Island, we arrived to see the Brooks' waiting for us at the house. We wasted time while awaiting the keys to the house by drinking beer and catching up on life. As usual, the week went by way to fast but here are some highlights:

• Morning Tour de France viewing with Renata resumed. We each got our team on day one and of course, I never won...AGAIN. The boys dominated as usual.


• Lots of book reading and horse shoe playing. I am terrible at shoes but by the end, I was actually enjoying it.


• Lots of seafood eating...I think we broke our shrimp buying record this year
• MJ and I had a night out with Critty and Dr. Thunder in Southport which was delish. Critty and I dined on crab legs followed by some yummy beers at Loco Joe's Bar.


• Karen made Jess and I iced coffee every morning...a new Preakness Estate tradition except that I have to make it myself.
• Sean and Ali were the life of the party during their two day stint in Long Beach. There's nothing like donuts and wine for breakfast, right Ali?

The week ended perfectly when we got the call from Patty saying there were Loggerhead turtles hatching on Friday night. Around 9:00 pm we all raced down the beach where we were lucky enough to witness two baby turtles take their first steps to the sea. It was the most amazing experience to witness.

After our post turtle watching, midnight dinner, we slowly began the daunting process of finding our things and packing them away for the trip home. On our way out Saturday, we stopped at Clem's Seafood one last time for some goodies to take home. We bought some scallops, flounder and MJ's childhood favorite, soft-shell crab. On Sunday, I sauteed the scallops and MJ fried up the flounder and crab. It was absolutely delicious and allowed us to hold onto the beach for one more day...

Thank you beach friends. We had a blast!!